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Congratulations to Drs. Joyline Makani and Martine Durier-Copp, Faculty of Management, who were recently awarded a SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant!

Drs. Makani and Durier-Copp’s will be conducting a review of evidence to address “What new ways of learning, particularly in higher education, will Canadians need to thrive in an evolving society and labour market?”

Their project is titled Strengthening Deeper Learning through Virtual Teams in E-Learning: A Synthesis of Determinants and Best Practices, and will focus on:

A systematic search of the literature

An interpretive synthesis of current research

The development of a framework of key determinants of effective e-learning

The development of an open website in which key stakeholders will provide commentary

The organization of a colloquium to validate findings, and presentation of a paper at a major international conference on e-learning.

“E- learning has transformed traditional way of learning in higher education, however Canada is trailing behind other countries in this respect”, says Dr. Joyline Makani. “We expect that our project will strengthen planning and delivery within Canadian centres involved in e-learning.”

The topic that Drs. Makani and Durier-Copp will be working on is one of six future challenge areas identified in SSHRC’s Imagining Canada’s Future initiative. These issues reflect key challenges that Canada is likely to face in an evolving global context over the coming decades, and to which the social sciences and humanities research community can contribute its knowledge, talent and expertise.

The knowledge synthesis grants will foster a deeper understanding of the knowledge, delivery mechanisms and learning outcomes necessary for the Canadian education system to support and sustain an innovative, resilient and diverse society. They will also help to identify the roles that the public, private and not-for-profit sectors may play in creating and sustaining new ways of learning, and teaching and pave the way for developing robust policies, practices and tools.

Earlier this week, a large amount of offensive graffiti was discovered on the 4th floor study rooms in the Killam Library. The situation was taken very seriously by Dalhousie Libraries, Dalhousie Security and Facilities Management. The study rooms were shut down immediately, and the graffiti is being removed. They will be reopened as they are cleaned.

Graffiti is vandalism and a criminal offence when placed on public or private property. It is critically important to make sure any instance of it is reported. Graffiti contributes to a hostile environment and it will not be tolerated in the Dal Libraries.

Graffiti inspires more graffiti when it is left up for more than a day. If not removed immediately it implies that this is an acceptable activity on our campus. Even what might start out as an innocent message created out of boredom (considered “bubble-gum graffiti”) will often encourage someone to respond, which can quickly spiral out of control and become offensive.

Graffiti affects everyone.

Discriminatory or offensive messages are hurtful. Dalhousie aims to foster a collegial culture grounded in diversity and inclusiveness. Students, faculty and staff have a right to always feel welcome and safe on campus.

It costs time and money to clean up. Dalhousie spends roughly $50,000-$60,000 a year on campus graffiti removal.

It can affect the sense of security and pride we have in Dalhousie. Let’s make sure our campus is clean and reflects the best of what our University has to offer.

How can you help?

We all have a role in keeping the Dal Libraries graffiti-free. If you see graffiti, report it immediately. There are several easy ways to report it:

By using the DalSAFE app (available for Android and iOS. Download it from the Google Play store and the App Store on iTunes)

Please be advised that Facilities Management will be doing some painting on the 4th floor of the Killam Library, beginning around 1:00 this afternoon. They will be using a latex-based paint.This painting is necessary to cover-up offensive graffiti in the study rooms. Painting will continue into tomorrow.

Do you have RAs responsible for doing literature searches, citation management, or other work in support of research? Do you have TAs responsible for assisting students with finding information for their research papers? The new Research Bootcamp offered by the Dalhousie Libraries may be just the thing to firm up their research skills. The objective of the Bootcamp is to develop and/or refresh the literature searching and information management abilities of research assistants, teaching assistants, and graduate students.

The Bootcamp starts off with Foundation Parts 1 and 2, which are applicable to all participants. From there, your RAs and TAs can customize their suite of workshops by choosing from a selection of discipline-specific literature searching workshops and information management skills workshops to best address their needs and the work with which they will be involved.

Register your students for the Foundation and U-Pick sessions. Registration will remain open until May 1, 2015. Visit the Research Bootcamp site [http://dal.ca.libguides.com/ResearchBootcamp] for all the detail, and select the “Register” tab to sign up.

Complete a five minute eBook survey at https://surveys.dal.ca/opinio/s?s=27818 for a chance to win prizes donated by Springer.
Prizes awarded daily until March 31st.
All names will also be included in the final draw for an Amazon gift card.

The end is almost here! Fear not, the Dal Libraries are here for you, providing you with longer hours to linger in the library with your favourite study buddy or night owl.

For more information about the Night Owl program at the Killam Library, see here.

Killam Memorial LibraryEffective March 15- April 27

Sundays: 10 a.m.–3 a.m.*

Mondays-Thursdays: 8 a.m.–3 am.

Fridays: 8 a.m.–midnight

Saturdays: 10 a.m.–midnight**

*Access to the Killam Library from midnight to 3 a.m. is for Dalhousie and King’s students only. Students must have their student ID with them to get in. Regular library services are not offered during this time, students will have access to the South Learning Commons or the atrium.

** In addition to these late night hours, we’ll be extending our opening hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings, opening at 8 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. on the following dates: